Personal Statement
My name is Grayson Juel and I am an eighth grade student-athlete with a passion for volleyball. I am very proud of my academic record in junior high; attending honors and talented and gifted classes and earning a straight A (4.0) grade point average throughout the year. I want to continue to work hard inside and outside of the classroom, so I can fulfil my dreams of playing volleyball in college. We live in Iowa where there is no boy’s volleyball offered as a school sponsored or high school sport, so we have had to search for other opportunities for me to play the sport I love. I started playing in 4th grade with a school club on a girls team. In 6th and 7th grade I played with the Platform Elite Club, still on all-girls teams. The summer before 8th grade, at age 13, I tried out for the Iowa Region High Performance Boys’ Volleyball travel team. I was the youngest player selected to the team, and played in the USA Volleyball High Performance Championships in Ft. Lauderdale with our Iowa Region 18U team. The team finished 5th in the Regional division - the best performance for the Iowa Boy’s ever! This past club season (8th grade), I competed with my friends from school on their girls club team and also on a boys 18U club team for Iowa Select Volleyball Club. Both teams performed well throughout the season, and I had a lot of fun. I have more planned for this summer including playing in the Boys Junior National Championships in Phoenix with the Johnston Volleyball Club 16U team, and playing with the Iowa Region 18U team for the second year in a row at the High Performance Championships in Tulsa, OK. I also secured a spot in the USA Volleyball A3 Training Program at the end of July. My competitive spirit provides me the drive and motivation to succeed on the court and in the classroom. My academic success is going to be my top priority as I enter high school next year, but I will also continue to participate in sports and pursue my dream of playing volleyball in college.